Treble joy for Na Fianna
December 31, 2003
Outright success in three underage football competitions helped make 2003 a highly successful year for the Na Fianna club and certainly suggested that the Enfield/Baconstown combination can look forward to a very bright future.
Na Fianna were victorious at three different age groups in football, which gives an indication of the amount of work being done with the various under-age teams in the club, while on the hurling front the under-16s made it to the B Championship final where they were narrowly beaten by Kildalkey.
As well as that, several players represented Meath at various levels in football and hurling, an indication that there is plenty of exciting talent coming up through the ranks.
The football triumphs came in the Under-16 FL Div. 3, the Under-14 FL Div. 3B and the Under-12 FL Div. 3A.
The under-16s, coached by Charlie Flattery and with Mark Gillespie and William Davy also in the role of selectors, took two games to get the better of Oldcastle in their final.
The sides finished level (1-9 each) in a highly entertaining initial encounter at Pairc Tailteann as Oldcastle recovered from a 0-8 to 1-9 deficit to force a replay. Na Fianna always looked more likely to win, were ahead by 0-7 to 0-5 at half-time and were boosted by a Conor Hatton goal in the second period, but they had to settle for a draw in the end.
Hatton was very much a hero of the replay, also at the Navan venue, as he contributed 2-2 in his side's 3-8 to 1-8 victory. The teams retired level (0-5 each) at the interval and, after Oldcastle edged ahead with the first point of the second-half, Na Fianna replied positively with Hatton's first goal.
Though Oldcastle got back to level terms, Na Fianna soon assumed command and further goals from Hatton and Eoin Duffy set them firmly on the road to victory. Simon Moore had the honour of captaining the victorious team.
Na Fianna's opponents in the Under-14 FL Div. 3B decider at Longwood were Ballivor who took their team off the field and Na Fianna were subsequently awarded the game by the Juvenile Board.
Christy Malone, Anthony Kirby and Tom Slevin were the selectors with that team and the success represented another boost to the under-age section of the club.
Goals were the key as Na Fianna claimed the Under-12 FL Div. 3A title when defeating Drumconrath/Meath Hill by 4-5 to 1-10 in the final at Bective.
Corner-forward James Tuohy scored two of them and another star of the show was midfielder Harrison Silke who helped himself to 1-5. Full-back Owen Murray also got in on the goal-scoring act and played very well, as did team captain Billy Cullen, centre half-back Ciaran Boggan and half-forward James Griffin.
Pat Flynn was the coach of this team and Jim Queeney and Fr. Michael Whittaker also acted as selectors.
The players who brought those three under-age football titles to the club were:
U-16 FL Div. 3 (replay) - S. Geraghty; N. Reilly, S. Murphy; D. Gleeson, D. Bailey, M. Baldwin; S. Moore (0-1), P. Coffey; C. Murphy (0-2), R. Walsh, E. Duffy (1-1); C. Hatton (2-2), G. Gillespie. Sub - L. Foran (0-2) for Murphy.
U-14 FL Div. 3B panel - Therese Cosgrave, Claire Coffey, Nigel Mooney, Darren McCormack, Harrison Silke, Sean Fitzgerald, Gerard Ryan, Domhnaill Curran, Dean Henrick, Ronan Ryan, Michael Collins, Michael Devine, Shane Farrell, Dalton McDonagh, Owen Murray, Alan O'Donoghue, Cian Mannion, Ciaran Malone, Barry Slevin, Eoin Gorry, Gavin Kenny.
U-12 FL Div. 3A - Keith Jordan; Killian Coffey, Owen Murray (1-0), Graham Henrick; Billy Cullen, Ciaran Boggan, Conor McGurty; Damien Queeney, Harrison Silke (1-5); Damien Downey, Sean O'Neill, James Griffin; James Tuohy (2-0), Lance Dempsey, Conor Downey. Subs - David Lynch, Cian McDonagh, Adam Burke, Killian Carroll, John Collins, Niall Mannion, Lewis Dowling, David Reilly, Simon Forde, Shane Murphy, Aaron Keating, James Kelly.
Michael Bailey and Matt Coffey were the selectors for the under-16 hurling team which did so well to reach the B Championship final and the players involved were Shane Greaney, Shane Geraghty, Michael Hanley, Anthony Boggan, Paul Coffey, Mark Kelly, Martin Kelly, Christopher Swaine, Niall Reilly, Sean Fitzgerald, Daniel Gleeson, Diarmuid Daly, Barry Slevin, Eoin Gorry, Eoin Duffy and Conor McDonald.
And, to demonstrate that the hurling talent is coming through at the youngest levels, Na Fianna won an under-11 ground hurling tournament in Gormanston on January 2.
Dean Barrett is undoubtedly a Na Fianna footballer to watch for the future and was a member of the Irish under-17 team that beat Australia in the International Rules' series, while Barrett and Jamie Queeney were both members of the Meath minor football side.
Goalkeeper Shane Geraghty was involved with Meath at both under-15 and 16 levels, while Ciaran Malone and Barry Slevin were members of the Royal County under-14 panel that was coached by Na Fianna's under-age chairman Pat Flynn, who is also coach of the club's under-13 side.
David Kirby was a member of the Meath minor hurling team, Paul Coffey and Niall Reilly were part of the county under-16 hurling side and at under-15 level, Diarmuid Bailey, Shane Greaney, Danny Gleeson and Michael Hanley were part of the Royal County set-up.
All in all, 2003 has to go down as a highly successful year at under-age level for the club which also hosted Warwickshire when the Feile was staged in the county.
Club PRO Charlie Flattery was delighted to look back on such a progressive campaign and was very optimistic about the future.
"It was a fine achievement to win the three under-age titles," he said. "They may have been in Div. 3, but we would certainly hope to make our mark at a higher grade in the future.
"A really big effort is being put in at under-age level and we would have to be very confident about the future of the club in both hurling and football.
"A huge effort is going in at under-10 level where Sean Downey and Conor Ryan are the main men. We are looking well ahead there."
ADULT
The club's intermediate teams in both football and hurling figured prominently in 2003 also, with the footballers reaching the IFC quarter-finals where they lost to Duleek, before they claimed the All-County A League Div. 3 title by defeating the same opposition in the final, and the hurlers making the semi-finals of the IHC before bowing out to Clann na nGael.
The footballers can certainly look forward to next year with optimism after advancing to the last eight of the championship where Duleek beat them by 4-11 to 2-5, particularly as they managed to reverse that result in the league final.
That league decider at Bective turned into a real test of stamina when it went to extra-time, but Na Fianna demonstrated the greater resolve and battled their way to a 1-13 to 0-15 victory.
Duleek looked likely to repeat their championship success when they got off to a flying start and scored four points before David Killoran slotted over a free in the 15th minute to get Na Fianna off the mark. They soon found their range as further points from Enda McCloskey (two), Ollie Lewis and another Killoran free edged them ahead, but Duleek hit back to lead by 0-6 to 0-5 at the interval.
A goal from Lewis six minutes into the second-half appeared to give Na Fianna the edge, but Duleek were back on level terms with five minutes of normal time to play, before a magnificent point from substitute Davy Lyons on the hour mark looked to have snatched victory for Na Fianna.
However, Duleek raided downfield from the kick-out and scored a late equaliser to force the match into extra-time. The score stood at 1-10 to 0-13 at the end of normal time.
The move of 17-year-old Dean Barrett to full-forward at the start of extra-time paid off for Na Fianna as he scored two points in the early stages. As the teams tired, scores were hard to come by subsequently, but Na Fianna did enough to achieve victory and a measure of revenge for the championship loss.
The team included three 17-year-olds - goalkeeper Jamie Queeney, half-back Darren Bolger and Barrett and all played well, as did Gene Greville, Martin Hanley, Jason Henrick, Christy and Tommy Cosgrave, Killoran, Lewis and McCloskey.
The Na Fianna team was - J. Queeney; C. Cosgrave, G. Greville, E. Regan; D. Bolger, T. Cosgrave, M. Hanley; D. Barrett (0-3), D. Griffin; A. Clinton (0-1), D. Killoran (0-3), R. McMahon; J. Henrick, O. Lewis (1-1), E. McCloskey (0-4). Subs - H. Dorgan for McMahon, D. Lyons (0-1) for Clinton, McMahon for Dorgan.
The club's intermediate hurlers exited the championship when going under to Clann na nGael by 1-9 to 2-9 at the semi-final stage and they will surely wonder what might have been had Paul Hanley been available to them.
The fact that they drew with eventual champions Drumree earlier in the competition gives an indication of how close Na Fianna were to the title and offers them plenty of hope for next year.
Brendan Flynn, Fergal Fagan, Paul Hanley, Owen Reilly and Martin Hanley were all part of the Meath junior hurling set-up.
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